Dear Diary
by Zenyetta
Summary: Gwenhwyfar records the events of the jousting tournament in her diary.


**Dear Diary**

Date: the day before the Jousting Tournament

Dear Diary,

I'm helping Merlin hide Prince Arthur so he can participate in the jousting tournament anonymously. I'm letting the prince stay at my house, which is a great honor for me, but I don't know how I let Merlin talk me into this. At least I didn't have to find the person to masquerade as a noble. Poor guy, he looked so embarrassed standing in front of his prince with dirt on his clothes and straw in his hair. But, he did clean up well and he was quick to learn how to act like a noble. He will be 'Sir William of Deira' for the tournament. Maybe this will work out after all.

Dear Diary,

Guess what? Prince Arthur is a spoiled rotten royal flaming pain in the _ass!_ I spoke too soon. This is _not_ a great honor. The prince thoughtlessly commandeered my bed last night, the _schmuck,_ and I had to sleep on grain sacks in the back. Worst of all, he snores….._loudly_. Between the lumpy sacks and the hog noises, I barely got any sleep.

Date: first day of the Jousting Tournament

Dear Diary,

The ruse seems to be working. 'William' is doing well posing as a nobleman and knight, and Prince Arthur jousted splendidly today. Later at dinner, I asked him why he was doing this. He said he wanted to prove himself to the people as deserving of praise because he was a good fighter, not a privileged prince. That is very noble of him, and I'm thinking maybe he's not such a bad person after all, but then he turns around and orders me to prepare a bath for him. I don't have a tub, moron! I had to go all the way down to the town well and _schlepp_ back a bucket of water. I should have beat him with it! I'm really starting to think this wasn't such a good idea after all.

Date: second day of the Jousting Tournament

Dear Diary,

I had it with Prince Precious! I told off the rude, ungrateful, arrogant pig, and I'm glad of it. He comes in after jousting and demands that I mend his shirt! What, the words 'please' and 'thank you' aren't in your vocabulary? And when he sees that I've been sleeping on sacks, he's surprised. "Oh, did I take your bed and force you to sleep on the floor?" Hello? Well, I went at him after that. Then he got this, 'Am I really like that?' look on his face and actually apologized for his rude behavior. Prince Precious apologized to _me_! I was stunned, really. I didn't think him capable of that. And to further make up to me, he made me dinner. I didn't know he could cook. Well, I went out for an evening stroll while he prepared the meal. I ran into to Merlin who also seemed surprised that the prince was cooking. We'll see how it goes.

Dear Diary,

Today has been totally weird! I tell off Prince Arthur, he feels bad so he cooks me dinner. When I came back from my stroll, the prince had put on a clean shirt and had set the table nicely. Two plates piled with food were ready for us. I think he was trying to impress me, and I was really curious to see how he prepared the chicken. The food was delicious and the conversation pleasant – I told him he snored, he denied it. I was about to clear the table, but he insisted upon doing it. That's when I noticed the royal seal on the back of the plates. Prince Precious hadn't cooked dinner after all, he probably sent Merlin to the kitchens for two dinners, the lying bastard! That's right, I called him a liar to his face. What is with this man? He takes one step forward, then two steps back. But then he said something truly strange. He apologized, again, saying he was bad at some things, like cooking, and knowing what to say to someone he cared about. WHAT? Then Merlin came bursting in, talking about some assassin. Apparently, King Odin hired an assassin to kill Arthur for killing his son in a duel. Thankfully, only Merlin and I know Arthur was staying with me, so he's safe, and tomorrow is the last day of the tournament. After that, Arthur will be free to deal with this assassin. By the way, he insisted on sleeping on the floor tonight, so I've got my bed back. Yeah!

Date: third and final day of the Jousting Tournament

Dear Diary,

If yesterday was weird, today was bizarre! As Arthur was preparing to leave to compete in the final round, I gave him a scarf of mine as a favor for luck, to show there were no hard feelings, and he accepted it. Then he kissed me. He actually kissed me. _He_ – the crown prince and future king – kissed _me!_ It was a very nice kiss and totally unexpected. I was speechless and so was he, because he looked at me a moment then left. I really don't know what to think. Go me? Well, it turned out that the assassin knew Arthur was jousting in disguise. The man killed Arthur's final round opponent and took his place. He seriously wounded Arthur, but the prince prevailed. The assassin was unhorsed, but broke his neck in the fall and died. Arthur surprised me, and Merlin by not going out to reveal his identity and bask in glory. Instead, he let 'William' have that honor. Gaius came to tend Arthur after the tournament; I guess Merlin had to tell him what was going on. Later that day, Arthur rode into Camelot with his guard (the ones he left to double back to my house) as though he'd been away on a mission. He gave the court and his father, the king, some made up story about meeting the assassin on his way home. And once again, Arthur surprised me, for when the king wanted revenge on King Odin, Arthur dissuaded his father from such action, saying there had been enough bloodshed. Arthur and I did speak after court and we both agreed anything further between us would be impossible. For one thing, the king would never stand for it. He's a crown prince and I'm just a servant. Besides, everyone knows he is to wed the Lady Morgana when he becomes king. It was a momentary silly dream, but now we are all awake and know our places in the world.

The End


End file.
